How to Use a Turkey Roasting Pan

A roasting pan is perfect to bake a whole turkey, but make sure it fits in your oven and has a well-fitting rack inside. Roast a turkey in a deep roasting pan with help from a professional chef in this free video on cooking techniques.

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Video Transcript

Hi, I'm Michelle Karam with Dishes by Michelle in Los Angeles, California. I'm here today to talk to you about how to use a turkey roasting pan. Well, what are some things you should know about a turkey roasting pan before you buy It? The first thing is and it's the all important across the board is does this turkey oven roasting pay fit into your oven. Nine times out of ten, people will tell me when you know, they're asking me about Thanksgiving dinner, what's the one bit of advice you can give. Please make sure it fits into your oven because if it doesn't, you will go to put it in and you'll have a problem. So, that's the first thing. Measure your oven and make sure that it fits. The second thing that you want to look for is the height on your roasting pan. You want to make sure that you find something that's about three inches. That's generally the best height that you can look for. The reason being is that you want the heat when it's coming through to be able to get inside of your pan and around your bird. If it's too low, what will happen is when you go to move it, the fluid will fall out, some of the juices will you know, drip out. Then you'll have just a big mess in your oven. If it's too high, the heat won't circulate enough to make sure that your bird is well done enough. Another thing that you might want to look for is the type of metals you use when you're cooking with a pan. If you use an aluminum pan, it might not be able to withstand the heat when you want to get the gravy, you know to make your gravy, the bits that'll be stuck on the bottom. It won't be able to withstand that. You want to make sure that you have a stainless steel for stove top, when you're doing that. So, let's say you were to take your bird out and you have all these great juices on the bottom and you wanted to make that gravy, and you bring it over to your stove top, an aluminum pan is not going to hold up in terms of heat. Another thing you might want to look for when buying a roasting pan is handles on the side. Is this pot going to be heavy enough or sturdy enough to hold my heavy turkey that's going to be in there. If you have something flimsy, you might lose it and then like I said, big mess on the floor. Nobody wants that. And lastly, when you're looking for a turkey roasting pan, you want to use an oval shape. The reason being is, is what shape is a turkey. A turkey is oval shaped. And when you put a turkey in there, it's homogeneous with the shape of the roasting pan that you're putting it in there with. It doesn't touch the sides, and it's along the same shape. If you use a square, if you use a rectangle, it might be a little bit more complicated. So, when you're using a roasting pan, look for that oval shape for your turkey. I'm Michelle Karam with Dishes by Michelle, and this was how to use a turkey oven roasting pan.